Various - Igor Raykhelson: Piano and Chamber Music, Volume Two

In his early days the composer-pianist Igor Raykhelson � born in Leningrad in 1961, once a New York resident and now based in Moscow � studied both classical and jazz piano. Both influences have combined to create a uniquely personal, Rachmaninov-plays-the-blues Neo-Romantic style: not only is Raykhelson unafraid to write a good tune � it�s clear right away whose tune it is. And in his chamber and instrumental works, the parlando manner that Raykhelson absorbed from jazz becomes particularly effective. Raykhelson�s chamber music is usually written for his friends, and here he is joined by some of Russia�s finest musicians, including the cellist Alexander Kniazev and the pianist Konstantin Lifschitz � and the violinist in Raykhelson�s lyrical Melodia is his wife, Ekaterina Astashova.